14 May 2018: IOF Commit Egregious Killings of 59 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as Great Return March Protests Culminate Ahead of 70th Nakba Commemoration

As the Great Return March entered its eighth consecutive week in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) continued to use the same shoot-to-kill and shoot-to-disable policy previously documented by Al-Haq.[1] In an egregious display of excessive use of force, including lethal force, against thousands of peaceful Palestinian protesters, the IOF killed 59 Palestinians, including seven children, a person with disability, and injured 1,861 Palestinians, including 314 children and 88 women, amongst them 1,286 injured by live fire, of which 70 injuries were described as critical. Overall, the IOF have killed 101 Palestinians since the launch of the Great Return March protests on 30 March 2018.[2]

The Great Return March continued on Monday, 14 May 2018, as the United States began the unlawful relocation of its embassy to Jerusalem, at the same time as Palestinians marked seventy years since the Nakba. Hundreds of IOF soldiers spread out behind the fence, in more numbers than in previous weeks, positioned behind sand hills elevated above ground level, shooting live bullets and rubber bullets, using military vehicles and drones to fire massive amounts of tear gas towards protesters. The IOF also launched a number of artillery shells towards a group of youths who approached the fence, east of the Islamic Martyrs’ Cemetery, east of Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip, leading to the killing of 16 Palestinians.

North Gaza Governorate: 20 killed and 276 injured

The peaceful demonstrations took place in the areas of Abu Safiya hill, east of the Islamic Martyrs’ Cemetery, and east of Beit Hanoun. There, 19 Palestinians were killed and taken to hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, including three children. They were shot by live fire in the area of ​​Abu Safiya hill and east of Beit Hanoun. The killings include:

Mus'ab Yousef Abu Laila, 28, shot by a live bullet in the lower back;

Muhammad Ashraf Abu Sitta, 25, shot by a live bullet in the chest;

Muhammad Hani Al-Najjar, 33, who was shot by a live bullet that penetrated his chest and exited from his back from the right side; and

Sa’adi Saeed Salah, 18, shot in the abdomen from the left side.

All four were killed at distances ranging between 50-200 meters from the fence.

At approximately 1:15 pm, the IOF fired two artillery shells, followed by excessive shooting of live bullets, at a group of youths who had approached the fence east of the Islamic Martyrs' Cemetery, east of Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip, killing 16 Palestinians, including two children. The killings include:

Muhammad Abd Al-Salam Haraz, 20, shot by a live bullet in the right shoulder;

Musa Jaber Abd Abu Hasanein, 34, who works as a paramedic with the Civil Defence;

Saeed Muhammad Abu Al-Kheir, 15, shot by a bullet in the neck;

Mu’taz Bassam Al-Nunu, 30, injured by a live bullet in the head;

Ibrahim Ahmad Al-Zarqa, 17, shot by a live bullet in the head;

Mahmoud Mustafa Assaf, 23, shot by a live bullet, which penetrated his chest and exited from his back;

Yihya Ismail Al-Daqour, 21, injured by shrapnel in the abdomen and the right thigh;

Mustafa Muhammad Samir Al-Masri, 21, shot by a live bullet in the right shoulder;

Imad Ali Al-Sheikh, 19, shot in the chest;

Ahmad Fayez Shehadeh, 23, shot by a live bullet that penetrated his right armpit and exited from his chest;

Jihad Muhammad Musa, 30, shot by a live bullet in the chest that exited from his back;

Khalil Ismail Mansour, 24, shot by a bullet in the chest;

Shaher Mahmoud Al-Madhoun, 30, injured by a live bullet in the abdomen;

Ahmad Mahmoud Al-Rantissi, 27, shot by a live bullet that penetrated his chest and exited from his left side;

Ismail Khalil Ramadan Al-Dahouk, 29, shot by a live bullet in the chest;

Omar Jum’aa Mahmoud Abu Foul, 31, injured by a live bullet that penetrated his back and chest. His death was pronounced at 8:00 am on Tuesday, 15 May 2018, bringing the total of Palestinians killed on 14 May to 59.

The IOF injured 276 Palestinians in the North Gaza Governorate, including 50 children and ten women. Amongst them, 249 were injured by live ammunition and 25 were injured by direct gas canister hits, while the others suffered from gas exposure, injuries, and bruises.

Gaza Governorate: 13 killed and 650 injured

The Great Return March protests were concentrated in ​​Malkaarea, east of Al-Zaitoun, and Nahal ‘Oz area east of Al-Shuja’iyah, east of Gaza city. The IOF killed 13 Palestinians, including a child, in the area of the protests. They were taken to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza:

Muhammad Riyad Al-‘Amoudi, 31, shot by a live bullet in the back of the head, which exited from his face;

‘Alaa Anwar Al-Khatib, 27, shot by a live bullet in the head;

Ahmad Majed Atallah, 26, shot by a live bullet in the right thigh, which led to the rupture of the main artery;

Zayed Muhammad Hassan Omar “Al-‘Amareen”, 18, shot by a live bullet in the chest;

Abd Al-Rahman Sami Abu Matar, 18, shot by a live bullet in the head;

Ahmad Zuheir Al-Shawa, 23, shot by a live bullet in the chest;

Taher Ahmad Madi, 24, shot by a live bullet in the neck;

Fadel Muhammad Habashi, 33, shot by a live bullet in the neck;

Samer Nael Al-Shawa, 21, shot by a live bullet in the abdomen;

Mahmoud Wael Jundia, 20, shot by a live bullet in the chest;

Yazan Ibrahim Al-Toubassi, 23, shot by a live bullet in the right eye;

Imad Muhammad Al-Nafar, 24, injured by shrapnel in the neck, the back, and left shoulder; and

Talal Adel Matar, 16, shot by a live bullet in the head east of Al-Breij.

The IOF injured 650 Palestinians in the Gaza Governorate, including 125 children and 21 women, of whom 400 were shot by live ammunition. Amongst the injured are two paramedics with the military medical services, including: Ibrahim Ismail Al-Talalqa, who was injured by shrapnel in the hand and leg; and Ahmad Jamal ‘Obeid, who was injured by shrapnel in the right leg. In addition, an ambulance was damaged following its direct targeting by live ammunition. Several journalists were further injured east of Gaza: Muhammad Abu Dahrouj, a freelance photographer, was injured by a live bullet in the left leg; Omar Hamdan, an Algeria TV photographer was injured by a live bullet in the leg; Mohammad Wael Al-Duwaik, a reporter for Al-Itihad Press, was injured by a live bullet in the leg; Ahmad Zaqqoot, a photographer for Reuters, was injured by shrapnel in the leg; Wael Al-Dahdouh, head of the Al-Jazeera office in Gaza, was injured by shrapnel in the hand; Daoud Nimer Hassan Abu Al-Kass,a photographer for Palestine Today, was injured by shrapnel in the left hand; and Yasser Fathi Qudeih, 33, was injured by a live bullet in the abdomen. He was referred for medical treatment outside of the Gaza Strip and admitted to Al-Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem on Tuesday, 15 May 2018.

Central Governorate: 6 killed and 356 injured

The protests were concentrated east of Al-Breij. The IOF killed 6 Palestinians, including two children, all by live fire in the upper parts of their bodies. They were located at distances varying between 100 to 200 metres from the fence. The killings include:

Wissel Fadel Khalil, 14;

Izzeddin Musa Al-Samak, 16;

Mukhtar Kamel Abu Khamash, 23;

Muhammad Samir Duweidar, 29;

Ahmad Abdallah Al-‘Adini, 30; and

Mahmoud Yihya Hussein, 24.

The IOF further injured 356 Palestinians, including 56 children, 24 women, amongst them 280 by live fire, 16 of whom are in critical condition.

Khan Younis Governorate: 16 killed and 361 injured

The protests were concentrated east of Khuza’a and east of Abasan Al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis. The IOF killed 16 Palestinians, including a child, all of them killed by live bullets in the upper parts of their body while they were located some 50-200 metres from the fence. The killings include:

Anas Hamdan Qudeih, 21;

Obeida Salem Farhan, 30;

Bilal Ahmad Abu Diqqa, 26;

Jihad Mufid Al-Fara, 30;

Fadi Hassan Abu Salmi (Abu Saleh), 30, a person with disability, shot by a live bullet in the chest;

Izzeddin Nahro Al-‘Owaiti, 24;

Abd Al-Salam Yousef Abd Al-Wahab, 39;

Ahmad Muhammad Hamdan, 28, live bullet in the head;

Ahmad ‘Adel Al-Sha’er, 16;

Mahmoud Ribah Abu Mu’ammar, 28;

Kamel Jihad Muhana, 20;

Mahmoud Saber Abu T’aima, 22;

Mahmoud Suleiman ‘Aqel, 33;

Muhammad Hassan Al-‘Abadlah, 25;

Ahmad Salem Al-Jarf, 24; and

Muhammad Abd Al-Rahman Miqdad, 28.

The IOF further injured 361 Palestinians in the Khan Younis Governorate, including 43 children and 16 women, amongst them 252 were injured by live fire, 36 of whom were described as in critical condition. According to follow up by Al-Haq’s researcher, Mahmoud Ahmad Abd Al-Ghafour, 30, a volunteer field research photographer with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) was injured east of Abasan by a live bullet that entered his right shoulder and exited his back. He is being treated at Naser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Rafah Governorate: 4 killed and 218 injured

In the Rafah Governorate, protests were concentrated east of Al-Shawka, east of Rafah. Four Palestinians were killed by the IOF, all of them shot in the upper parts of their body at around 100 to 200 metres from the fence. The killings include:

Mu’tasem Fawzi Abu Luli, 20;

Ahmad Fawzi Al-Tatar, 28;

Muhammad Mahmoud Abd Al-‘Al, 39; and

Ali Muhammad Khafaja, 21.

The IOF further injured 218 Palestinians, including 40 children and 17 women, amongst them 105 injured by live fire and shrapnel form live bullets, of whom 14 were described as critical.